Jeff Bagwell says he's happy that former Houston Astros teammate Craig Biggio will enter the Baseball Hall of Fame this summer, but the former slugging first baseman isn't holding his breath for his own Cooperstown enshrinement.
"I don't expect to get in [to the Hall of Fame]. I'm just glad that Craig got in," Bagwell said to reporters Tuesday at the Astros' spring training facility in Kissimmee, Florida. "It's about time, 3,000 hits, man. The only problem with that is I've got to go and watch four guys get into the Hall of Fame, and listen to them all talk in July."
Biggio was elected to the Hall of Fame in January in his third year of eligibility after falling two votes short last year. He will be inducted alongside pitchers Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson and John Smoltz, all of whom made the cut on their first appearance on writers' ballots.
Biggio played 2,850 games over 20 seasons, all with the Astros, and racked up 3,060 hits. He batted .281 with 291 home runs, 1,175 RBIs, 1,844 runs and 414 stolen bases before retiring after the 2007 season.
Bagwell also accrued impressive statistics in a 15-year career with Houston, but fell short of the 3,000-hit and 500-homer plateaus. He batted .297 for his career and is Houston's all-time leader with 449 home runs and 1,529 RBIs. He ranks second to Biggio on the Astros' career list for several categories, including hits (2,314), games played (2,150) and runs (1,517).
Bagwell, who retired in 2005, received 55.7 percent of writers' Hall of Fame votes in his fifth attempt, falling shy of the 75 percent threshold required for induction. He maintains that he's not concerned about his failure so far to be elected.
"I keep telling people this, and people don't understand it," Bagwell told reporters Tuesday. "That's not what defines me as a person. Baseball does not define me as a person. It's what I do with my kids, as a husband, is what's going to define me. And that's not -- I can't say that. I mean, it's just the way I feel. I mean, it'd be an honor, don't get me wrong. But, you know, I got other things to do in my life."
